The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus has teamed with The Jim Henson Company to develop an “urban fantasy” series for a family-friendly audience.
“They [The Jim Henson Company] are masters in the fantasy world-building space,” Reedus told Variety. While notably known for fighting zombies in AMC’s long-running horror hit The Walking Dead, the Daryl Dixon actor’s latest fantasy venture instead gears toward a child-friendly viewership. Reedus will be creating a new universe of characters, alongside The Dark Crystal creature designers Brian and Wendy Froud, for a primetime adventure series currently in early development. “I mean, a show about goblins, trolls and otherworldly creatures?” Reedus added. “There’s nobody in the universe better suited for that than the Henson Company.”
Outside of his acting career, Reedus is also an art photographer who has recently added filmmaking roles to his resume. The new Jim Henson project will be his second time as a series creator. “Norman Reedus, the Frouds and The Jim Henson Company coming together to create a show is the mashup of my dreams,” The Jim Henson Company President of TV Halle Stanford proclaimed. “Norman is an artist, and when I suggested to him, what if we create a series with the Frouds together that explores his love of magical creatures, he was so excited.”
According to Stanford, The Jim Henson Company is actively expanding its television roster with family-oriented primetime content. The various developing projects are fantasy and science fiction tales that seek to be positive and punk-ish, such as the upcoming Reedus project. “It is an urban fantasy,” Stanford hinted about the fantasy series. “It will be a magical world. But I feel like Norman is going to help us bring the ‘punk’ back in ‘hope punk.’ I also think that people kind of like that punk in Henson’s legacy. The Muppets were the underdogs, our [Labyrinth] Goblin King with David Bowie was so cool.”
“When you say ‘Jim Henson,’ it invokes something in people,” Stanford stated about puppeteer legend Jim Henson’s legacy, the company’s television future and Reedus’ forthcoming collaboration. “So I’m hoping those that felt inspired by him, like Norman Reedus, will look to us as a new home to create these types of stories that are transformative and entertaining, and having something to say, but also wanting to kind of push the medium of television.”
Another Jim Henson Company dark fantasy series, The Dark Crystal: The Age of Resistance, aired for one season on Netflix before being canceled by the streaming platform. However, Stanford believes the franchise still has a future. “We are nimble, we are resilient,” she stated. “We are ready to jump. The minute anyone would like to jump back into Thra [The Dark Crystal‘s planet setting], it is a world that we will continue to build on and think about.”
There is currently no debut date for the Jim Henson/Norman Reedus series.
Source: Variety